This Week’s Various

After dropping off all my pies Thanksgiving morning, and having Thanksgiving lunch, by the time we got up to Huntsville to spend the holiday with Wade Wharton, I just could not get in the zone to eat one more bite of turkey. Instead, we found City Cafe Diner there with what seemed like hundreds of things on the menu. And Shug found a girl to flirt with in the next booth.

—The Dallas Observer sends its (English) reviewer to Red, Hot, and Blues who reviews ‘Memphis-style’ barbecue there. Of his observations:Memphis has decided that taking cornbread and deep frying it, then for some reason calling the product of this unholy carbohydrate marriage a “hush puppy,” is a legitimate contribution to the cuisine of the United States of America rather than the worst idea since Avril Lavigne covered a System of a Down song.

—The Alabama Folk School is having a ‘from scratch’ weekend, where you can learn: Rhythm Guitar from Scratch (Joyce Cauthen), Fiddle from Scratch (Jim Cauthen), Ukulele from Scratch (Charlie Hartness), and Sock Creatures (Nancy Hartness) February 15-17. Bluegrass and Gee’s Bend week is April 15-18.

The only truly consistent menu is the weekend country breakfast ($13.27), an enormous draw. The place was jammed one Sunday with the after-church crowd. Classic Southern biscuits and gravy, cinnamon rolls, and coffee arrive first, with fried apples, cheese grits, hash browns, and corn pudding close behind. Before you can fill your plate, and certainly before you can start digging in, another batch of food is set down: pancakes, scrambled eggs, and a towering meat platter with smoked sausage, bacon, and country ham. Finally, perhaps the most amazing skillet-fried chicken you may ever encounter — something King says may be scoffed at north of the Mason-Dixon Line, but remains a staple of the Southern breakfast. Monell’s serves this fried chicken at breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Driving to Auburn today for a conference, listening to the S-Town podcast for the third time. If you haven't already, it's...it's more than excellent. Based in Bibb County, Alabama. Complex, complex characters. 'Who'd take care of mama, who'd feed the puppies, who'd water the flowers, who'd prune the maze?' Indeed.... See MoreSee Less